Just another coffee shop
by SomethingBeautifullyBrutal
Summary: Some things change; some good, some bad. but if you find where you need to be, you'll find peace. If you struggle to get there, you could always visit a place to escape And spend just another day In just another coffee shop.
1. Chapter 1

Darkness descended upon the once happy street that sat in the middle of a once happy village. On this street sat a small coffee shop where people from each corner of the village and those visiting from other villages flocked to for peaceful thought and reminiscing. The slightest smell of its' popular pumpkin soup and caramel coffees was seen as the scent of happiness and the warmth of the store was only outdone by the warmth of the smile of the cheerful old lady who would greet you upon entrance.

The sun always seemed to shine on such a place, but today was different.

April showers threw themselves at the window of the store with no regrets or hesitation, cascading down the glass like a flurry of tears. It was cold; the breeze knocking people around without a care in the world.

It had been 13 days since the death of the cherished grandmother Chiyo. It had been 4 days since the funeral.

Two figures silently watched the store, nothing but sadness shown on their faces; dressed in full black, lazily holding umbrellas over their heads, the only sign that they were aware of anything other than the sadness that emanated throughout the street.

A shaking of the head caused pink hair to cover a crying face as small sobs cut through the silence, causing the other figure to look at her friend, a small sad smile gracing her delicate features.

"C-come on, Sakura-chan. You'll c-catch a cold." She rest a hand on the pink haired girl's shoulder which was met by a small laugh and a sniff. She looked at her companion and smiled the smallest smile as she rubbed her left eye

"Ne, I guess you're right Hinata. C'mon, let's go home" She turned briskly and walked down the street with great hurry, not wanting to look back, lest she fall into another session of tears.

Hinata followed swiftly behind her, only to turn around soon after and bow before the shop

"G-goodnight, Obaa-chan!" She turned again to run after her friend.

They walked in silence for many minutes before the pink-haired female broke the silence

"What do you think will happen now?" She asked with uncertainty and concern in her voice. Her friend simply rose a confused eyebrow at her and shook her head

"You know," she continued "With the shop, now that obaa-chan is… gone" She struggled to get the last word out, a frown appearing on her face at the thought of what she meant to say

"A… Ano…" Was her reply before she looked up at the crying heavens and thought deeply about it. "She m-must have left it to someone… in her will… maybe." She spoke quietly with great uncertainty, her voice wavering from the emotions brought on by the question.

Sakura smiled sweetly at the friend, aware that she was just as heart broken by the events as her. She nodded and turned forward, the silence continuing in their journey until Sakura abruptly halted.

Noticing this, Hinata turned slightly so she faced her companion. "Ne, S-Sakura-chan?"

"Hinata!" Sakura shouted excitedly, making her friend jump

"H-Hai!" her face grew warm as the blood rushed to her head, confused by Sakura's outburst

"Promise me something!" Her friend just nodded excitedly, unaware as to what brought this on. "When the shop re-opens, you have to get a job there and restore it to its' former glory!" She winked at her friend and fist pumped vigorously into the air as her friend grew redder

"H-huh?! Why me, Sakura-chan?" She flustered, trying to cover her face.

"Because I already have a job, and I'm studying full time. You take private lessons and haven't got a job yet" She grinned heartily, showing off her white teeth to which her friend smiled gently back at.

"D-Deal…" She agreed quietly

"Good! Now let's go eat something!" The two friends walked off into the damp streets, smiling and laughing, conversing over how they'll do their best to make it so that no one would ever forget Chiyo obaa-chan.

Meanwhile, outside the coffee shop, a small black car pulls up beside the front door, only one wheel up on the curb

"This is the place." A deep voice had said bluntly "Are you sure you wanna do this?" it asked with a small bit of concern laced within the words

"I am sure. I have thought of this since word of her death and I believe it to be best; both for her memory and my peace." An equally deep, though not as deep as the previous voice, replied. It held no emotion in the words it said, nor did it fault at any time.

"You know dad's gonna be all over your ass and this place trying his best to ruin it. You know how much he's wanted this place since before we were born." The first voice grew more concerned and faltered slightly.

"Obaa-chan never gave in to him, and nor will I. There is absolutely no way that he is going to get his hands on this place. It is a sacred place to me."

The owner of the deeper voice smiled gently and reached out his hand to ruffle the dark red hair of the other gentleman in the car

"I'm proud of you Gaara." He said with the smallest smile

"Get off me Kankuro" there was no hesitation in his speech but nor was there any venom. The older man laughed once more

"I'm sure you'll have a lot of people willing to help you around here. Granny sure was a popular one wasn't she?" Kankuro said with a smile, resting his hands once more on the steering wheel.

"That's what worries me the most." Gaara said solemnly, staring at the shop through the window, making his brother raise an eyebrow. "People may expect me to be like her. They will be disappointed and I may let her down…" The smallest frown appeared on his face, only to be interrupted by Kankuro slapping him gently on the back

"Don't think too much about it. Who knows? This could be good for you and a lot of good things could come out of it."

Gaara looked at his brother with a soft expression before looking back at the shop, the smallest attempt at a smile playing on his lips

'Maybe.' He thought to himself. 'Just maybe.'


	2. Chapter 2

It was cold, yet the sun still shone down intently, making the morning bright and cheerful, reflecting off the glass that stood in front of the male. He sighed and looked at the front of the shop, taking in all the memories he had of this place.

All of the days he had spent as a child running around the inside, the times he had begged for a cup of obaa-chans' famous coffee but was told no due to him being too young, the days he had made himself almost throw up by over indulging himself in his obaa-chans' pumpkin soup.

So many things had changed now, and so many things had been let go. So many things he could never get back again; that he had regretted that he ever lost. He sighed once more and shook his head, looking at his watch. It was only 7:33 in the morning and he was already standing outside his newly acquired shop; the shop that wasn't even going to be announced to be re-opening for at least another week.

He had decided to come on his own whim to sit inside and get a feel for the shop, see if anything had changed and to see if he could still remember all those days and nights he had stayed in the small café.

'_Just Another Coffee Shop' _his Grandmother had named it, being the overly cheerful and modest woman that she was. It was printed on the shop in a plain verdana font, coloured bright orange, with a white rim on each letter.

It was so plain. So… average. Yet it was so extraordinary for those that ventured inside.

He rested his head on the glass door and reached into his pocket, fondling the key idly

"A…Ano…" A soft voice rang out behind him, cutting him from his day dream. He turned his head sharply to see the source of the voice, his emotionless eyes cutting deep into her gaze, causing her to look down.

Her fringe slightly covered her eyes from view and the red that flooded her face was barely visible from the angle of her head. She played idly with her fingers, trying to look into the man's eyes but failing every time

Her face grew hotter thinking that she caused unnecessary attention to herself and was now being stared at

"If y-you were h-hoping to g-go into the c-coffee shop, it's c-closed…" She said very softly, turning her head away from him

"I know that." He said plainly, staring at her intently.

"A-ah… Th-then what are you d-doing here?" She asked, before inwardly cursing herself. The question had come out naturally out of curiosity, but she had not meant it to be worded so rudely

"I'm… going to make myself a coffee." He replied with a slight hesitance, as if he were unaware what he was doing there himself and had decided at that moment. She raised her head and looked at him, confusion apparent on her face. Her eyebrows rose as she watched him take the key out of his pocket and unlock the door. He opened it slowly and looked back at her from the doorway, "Would you like one?"

She froze at the question, completely unsure of how to response. He didn't wait for an answer and proceeded to walk in on his own. In her small panic, and her family tradition of not wanting to seem rude without a justified reason to be, she squealed in response a small "H-hai!" and followed him swiftly

She sat at the small 3 person circular table that was both closest to the window and to the counter, playing with the hem of her skirt that sat on her knees, looking at Gaara every other second out of curiosity.

Gaara on the other hand immediately sat on the counter out of habit and quickly jumped back off, hearing a small creaking from the old wooden counter. He smiled to himself slightly, a smile that soon passed due to the remembering of the guest in the room.

'I guess I'm too big to be sitting on the counter now' he noted to himself, more memories flooding his mind. He looked over to the girl, who seemed to be conflicted between watching him and playing with her clothing.

"What would you like?" He said, maybe a bit too bluntly, giving off a harsh feeling. She looked at him with a small amount of fear flooding her eyes before looking away again, stuttering to herself. "To drink, I mean." He reiterated.

"C-Caram-m-mel M-Mac-c-" Speech had completely escaped her as she slowly realised what kind of odd social climate she was in at the moment; a scenario that anyone who knew the young girl would know that she would have a mental implosion in.

"Macchiato?" The stranger finished for her, to which she just nodded in confirmation. "Coming up."

She was left in silence for another few minutes. A thousand thoughts flew around her mind. Who was this man? Was he related to Obaa-chan? Was he the heir of a fortune that bought this place on a whim? Is he just an eccentric who wants a shop?

She was interrupted as her drink was placed in front of her and the mysterious man took a seat directly across from her.

She grew red once more and bowed her head deeply "A-Arigato!" He simply waved off her thanks and took a sip of his coffee, staring out the window towards the street with one of his legs resting lazy on the other.

They drank slowly in silence, enjoying their drinks in the quiet that enveloped them

'Amazing…' Hinata thought to herself. 'It's almost as good as obaa-chans''

Gaaras' pale turquoise eyes flickered over to her for a second, watching her place the cup to her soft pale lips and taking gentle sips, her faded violet eyes becoming brighter with every sip.

"It's a good thing you can drink it, at least" He interrupted her, causing her to become confused, looking at him "Seeing as you can't say it." Their eyes locked and he gave her the slightest of smirks, making her face redden more so than she thought was possible.

"N-ne, w-what relation d-do y-you have to Obaa-chan?" She asked out of the blue, making the boys eyebrows shoot up, only to be quickly lowered once more as he caught his composure. He brought his mug to his lips slowly

"I'm… her youngest grandchild." He stated, taking a sip from his coffee, Hinata's eyes widening from this piece of information as she stood up quickly

"Y-you're T-Tanuki-kun?" she said in the loudest voice a shy girl like her could muster, causing Gaara to spit his beverage over the table, his face a bright red from the nickname his grandmother had given him when he was five years old

"G-Gaara! My name is Gaara!" He corrected with an embarrassed tremor in his voice.

He cleared his throat as Hinata realised what she had said and turned her head away from him, walking to the bathroom quickly

"I-I'll get some tissues!" She said hurriedly, leaving the man in silence.

She came back soon after, cleaning the table quickly, averting the gaze of the red-head she had just embarrassed herself in front of.

"Arigato… Ah." He said to himself. "How rude of me. What is your name?" he asked, looking at her with an emotionless face.

"H-Hyuuga Hinata…" she stuttered, playing with her fingers once more.

"Tell me, Hinata, were you close to my Obaa-chan?" he looked at her with a serious expression which made her breath catch in her throat. She just nodded briskly and coughed "Are you… the one she called… 'A Raven Beauty'?"

Hinata smiled to herself and nodded slightly "Obaa-chan w-was always t-too nice to m-me…" she looked at him and cocked her head to the side "H-how do you know?" she asked quietly, taking a sip from her drink

"She's sent me letters for the past 3 years saying how there's a 'Raven Beauty' that visits her shop frequently," She smiled at this, knowing that obaa-chan thought highly of her "Saying how I should marry her" He finished.

Hinata choked on her drink and dribbled it slightly, receiving an odd look from Gaara.

"H-how d-did you know it w-was me?" She asked incredulously, wiping the coffee that dribbled down her chin.

"You knew my nickname." He stated plainly, looking back to the window. She looked down and nodded slightly. That was pretty obvious, when she thought about it. "And-" her thoughts were interrupted

"You fit the description." She blushed and looked at him, her cheeks a dark crimson. That was the closest she had got to a man calling her beautiful. Well, a man who was not related by blood.

She looked at his thin face stare lazily off into space, his pale eyes seemingly glowing in the light of the morning sun through the glass window.

"So, Hinata." He said, shocking her once more from her stupor, "I have a favour to ask."

She raised her eyebrows at this and her lips parted slightly "H-hai?"

"For both my obaa-chan and I, and for the good of this shop, I would like to ask for your assistance." She continued to stare at him, his vague request not helping her understand what he actually wanted "Could you please, help me run this shop?" he leaned forward on the table and looked at her with a slightly softened face, his eyes slicing through her defences.

"H-Hai!"


	3. Chapter 3

Two girls made themselves comfortable on opposite sides of a single bed; one laying in a foetal position on the pillows staring intently at the wall directly in front of her gaze and the other sat cross legged at the foot of the bed staring at her friend.

"So… this guy comes out of nowhere, just staring at the shop and then he just… opens it and makes you coffee, then offers you job, claiming he's Obaa-chans grandson?"

The dark haired girl nodded to confirm her friends query in beat to the gaps of her speech, causing the pink haired teen to furrow her eyebrows and hold a quizzical expression.

"Doesn't that seem a bit… odd?"

Hinata cocked her head to the side and gave her friend a side glance, making sure not to lose concentration on that patch of wall she had all but burned a hole into.

"W-what do you mean?"

It was true that Hinata found it a bit odd, but until now had been so overwhelmed with the whole situation that she hadn't actually sat down to think about it until this present moment.

"Well," Sakura continued softly "If he were anything to Obaa-chan, shouldn't we have seen him before?"

Hinata broke eye contact with that patch in the wall and made eye contact with her friend fully and frowned slightly

"I… I guess… M-maybe he has his reasons f-for not visiting?" she tried to justify, not being any wiser than Sakura to anything that went on the strange boys mind.

"Hmm…" The questioning hum was almost silent and was quickly followed by a sharp loud "ah!"

Hinata jumped slightly at the abrupt noise and turned red from the embarrassment of being scared so obviously

"We'll just ask him!" Her green eyes shone brightly out of curiosity and eagerness, hoping that this stranger would be somewhat like her beloved obaa-chan.

Hinata just smiled weakly back and nodded, returning her gaze to the patch on the wall that captivated her so.

Hinata was slightly dreading this, what seemed to be, confrontation. She had guessed that Sakura's and Gaara's personalities weren't exactly matched for… easy conversation.

Tomorrow was probably going to be a long day

Gaara sat inside the isolated café and sighed to himself quietly. Was he ready for this? It wasn't the responsibilities that hassled him, or the thought of so many people being around and expecting something of him;

It was more the social interaction needed in such an environment and he honestly didn't know if he was able to handle it well.

He had never been a people person, being raised in isolation with no one but his Grandmother and siblings for conversation when he was younger.

His thoughts were interrupted by the flat tone of the doors bell ringing and the squeaking of the door hinge as it opened.

Gaaras' eyebrow rose slightly as he stood up to greet the intruder of his newly acquired shop.

He absent-mindedly puffed his chest out, ready to proclaim in a steady voice that the shop was in fact closed when orbs of violet met his aquamarine eyes.

They stood still in silence for what seemed like multiple minutes before Gaara breathed out and sighed

"You got me on edge then. I thought I'd have to go to business mode." He said in monotone, staring blankly at her as he sat back down at his desk

The girl struggled to imagine him in any mode other than business mode, was he suggesting that when they met the day before that he wasn't in business mode? What mode was he in then?

He picked up his mug and closed his eyes, taking in the scent before opening them once more, raising the mug to his lips before halting slightly, looking up to see that the unexpected guest had brought someone with her.

He placed the mug down and leaned back in his chair

"I don't believe I've had the honour." He stated towards the second guest who smiled brightly back at him. She quickly stepped forward and sat on the chair that was unused on the opposite side of Gaaras' table.

She stuck her hand out swiftly, barely missing the mug that was in front of Gaara and smiled wider

"I am Haruno Sakura! I come here all the time!" Gaara raised an eyebrow at that and slowly took her hand only to have it shaken energetically, causing him to frown slightly.

She let go of his hand and smiled at him before ushering Hinata into the seat that was next to hers

Gaara watched the shy female sit down awkwardly, flattening out the wrinkles in her skirt and making sure that she wasn't showing anything off in an awkward position.

His eyes darted between the two and he smirked slightly, leaning his head on his hands, slouching forward slightly on the table

"Well, now it feels like I'm being interrogated." He said in a small joking tone that had a small rasp to it, causing the darker haired girl to blush at the odd infliction of his speech.

"Call it more of a small questioning!" Sakura replied, nonplussed by the Redheads voice

"Well, go on then." He continued to smirk but he now leant back in his chair and waited for whatever they wanted to ask.

"Numero uno! What relation are you to Obaa-chan?" She pointed her finger almost menacingly at Gaara, to which he just ignored

"I am the son of her daughter and the reciprocate of this shop, as stated in her will." He said bluntly, no emotion was detected in his speech

"Two! What do you plan on doing with the shop?!" He finger got closer to his chest, her tone becoming more menacing which was, again, ignored completely

"I plan on selling coffee. What else do you do in a coffee shop?" He was expecting more than this to be honest. He would have preferred to have been asked questions he could have more fun with, or at least ones he could answer quickly and go back to his day without feeling like his time had been wasted.

"And finally!" The pink haired girl practically shouted "How come you've never been here before?"

At that, the redhead's eyes widened and his eye contact with the girl was broken as he looked down at the ground before slowly getting out of his seat.

"This conversation is over." He stated in a shaking voice, refusing to make eye contact with either of the girls present

"But-" Sakura's objection was interrupted by the sharp sound of Gaaras' fist hitting the table top followed by the clinking of porcelain hitting the floor and breaking.

"Over." He had made it perfectly clear before running a hand through his hair.

He looked down and saw the mug and cursed under his breath, turning to get something to clean the mess with. He stopped at the door frame of the kitchen and spoke firmly.

"I don't mind what you do, just… don't ask that question again."

The girls sat quietly, processing what had just happened.

The pink haired girl was shocked to the core, completely frozen and unable to move or speak.

Hinata, in a burst of energy and empathy, stood up quickly and followed the strange man.


End file.
